Check Letters I

	Severely misplaced and/or strongly tilted letters have long been identified as to their plate. With "Plating the Penny" almost all the 1d. 'reds' in a collection may now be assigned their proper plate number.
Plate 94		Plate 80

If the first strike of the letter punch was insufficient to properly enter the letter, the workman tried to re-align the punch and deepen the impression. When not successfully done, a true 'doubled' letter resulted. This doubled "E" is Plate 75.

Should this second striking of the punch (or the original - for that matter) be too strong, then the collar of the punch often marked the plate. If lightly marked, only a circular mark was left at the point of contact, but if heavier the letter could become blurred, blind or distorted in addition to the markings from the collar. An example from Plate 63.

	Another cause of the 'doubled letter' variety was the attempted correction of an extremely misplaced punch, or an incorrect letter for that position. The error would be corrected by burnishing the letter square flat, and then re-punching the letter.
Plate 34		Plate 19
	Some marks from the first punch might not be fully filled in by the burnishing. These would remain visible and be printed, or would be later be exposed as the surface of the plate wore away.